“It’s what we use as audio professionals to connect all our equipment, all our audio gear,” says Lab Specialist John Gibb. “Stuff breaks – we need to know how to fix them. Being able to fix them and prepare them yourself saves a lot of money.”

During the lab, students first learned the basics of soldering. They stripped wires, “tinned” them with a soldering pencil, and then created new insulator jackets using heat shrink tubing and a heat gun. Later in the class, the students would take apart an XLR cable, put it back together, and add various connecters.